The wife of former Interpol President Meng Hongwei is suing the international agency for failing to prevent his arrest in China, and for failing to assist her family, AP reported on Sunday.
Meng’s wife Grace Meng, who has been granted asylum in France, said her lawyers had filed a legal complaint in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in the Netherlands. She accused Interpol of “breaching its obligations” owed to her family” and of being “complicit in the internationally wrongful acts of its member country, China.” Interpol has disputed the allegations.
Grace Meng said a tribunal would be set up to ascertain Interpol’s claims that Meng Hongwei’s disappearance was “only a matter for the relevant authorities in France and China”, reported South China Morning Post.
Rutsel Martha, a former general counsel at Interpol, and his colleague at Lindeborg Counsellors at Law, Stephen Bailey, told the newspaper they would represent Grace Meng at The Hague. Paris-based lawyers Emmanuel Marsigny and Louis Guesdon are also on the legal team.
Last month, Meng Hongwei pleaded guilty in a Chinese court to the charge of accepting $2.1 million in bribes. The court in Tianjin, where proceedings are going on, alleged Meng had abused his positions, including as China’s vice minister of public security and maritime police chief, to favour others in return for bribes.
Meng, who lived in Lyon in Frnace, disappeared in September 2018 during a visit to China. In October, China admitted to having Meng in its custody and the country’s Ministry of Public Security said he was being investigated for accepting bribes.
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